Target shooting games of various types have been proposed in the past for use in commercial establishments such as penny arcades and also in the home. These devices take a variety of forms, with the typical commercial type of shooting gallery game using a light source to project a beam of light towards a target which includes a photocell that, when hit by the beam of light, activates a signal mechanism. In commercial types of target games the mechanism for producing the beam of light is relatively complex and the current is continuously supplied to the light bulb's filament so that the filament is heated continuously but to a level which produces little or no light. However with the heated filament, when the gun is actuated an intense beam of light, of extremely short duration, is produced. Thus the gun must be properly aimed during the short period of time in which the light beam of an intensity sufficient to actuate the photocell is produced. This prevents the player from sweeping the gun around or about the target over an extended period of time in an attempt to align the gun properly with the target. Thus a high degree of skill is necessary in hitting the target and these games closely simulate actual target shooting games with real guns.
While the commercial target shooting games are highly satisfactory in use, they are unsuitable for home entertainment products. They are exceedingly complex and require substantial maintenance, and of course are relatively expensive. To avoid these difficulties a home target shooting amusement game has been proposed which uses a novel arrangement for signaling a hit on the target. This amusement game is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 659,216 filed Feb. 19, 1976 and commonly assigned herewith. The disclosure of that application is incorporated herein by reference.
In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 659,216 a target shooting amusement apparatus is disclosed in which a toy gun is used to produce a short burst of light that is directed at a target on which a series of tin cans or bottles are placed. When the light beam hits a photocell associated with a respective can or bottle, an impeller mechanism associated with the housing on which the cans and bottles are mounted causes movement of the "hit" can or bottle to simulate a hit. In one embodiment the game provides a simulated fence on which the cans or bottles are mounted and the impeller mechanism knocks the cans or bottles off the fence when the photocells are hit. In this game, as in the commerical shooting gallery games, it is desirable that the burst of light used to actuate the photocells have an extremely short, predetermined duration so that the gun must be accurately aimed for a short period of time in order to register a hit. If the light beam is on for too long a period of time the player could move the gun about the target until the light beam is aligned with the photocell. This would reduce the need for skill in aiming the gun properly.
With a home entertainment game of this type, it is undesirable that the light bulb producing the beam of light be on constantly, even at a low intensity as in commercial shooting gallery games, since that would reduce the life of the bulb, or require that special and highly expensive light bulbs be utilized. Thus it is desirable that the light producing mechanism of the game have a bulb which is only energized when the gun is actuated. However, with conventional incandescent bulbs which would be suitable for use in this type of game, current must be supplied to the bulb for a minimum period of time in order that the filament of the bulb be heated sufficiently to produce light. Thus it is desirable that the actuating mechanism of the gun insure that current is supplied to the bulb for a period of time which is greater than that which is necessary for the filament of the bulb to become sufficiently heated to produce light, but less than a given maximum period of time, so that the resulting light beam has a predetermined length thereby to require accurate aiming of the gun.